Editor’s note: Pryor & Peacock is a family run, all female, business headquartered in New Marlborough and dedicated to re-imagining the look of furniture.
If history has taught us anything, it’s that people don’t like boring furniture. The earliest examples of upholstered furniture date back to the Pharaohs— and even back then, ancient Egyptians added color and highly imaginative design to elevate the functional into the beautiful. The impulse towards decoration evolved and expanded though the centuries as new techniques and tools allowed, from Renaissance silks and linens to 17th century Indian wood block prints on cotton, to a European explosion of damask, Chinoiserie, and chintz 200 years later.
We started Pryor & Peacock with the desire to once again reimagine the look of upholstered furniture. Thanks to the advent of digital printing, we have the ability to transform a historic work of art into a modern piece of fabric. We start by combing the globe, looking for interesting and beautiful prints and illustrations from the 1600s through the mid-20th century, and searching domestically for high quality vintage and antique furniture frames. Then comes the tricky part: which print should we marry to which piece of furniture.
Recently we completed two very different pieces: a pair of mid-century barrel chairs and a Victorian-era loveseat.
We debated using an antique floral print on the barrel chairs, but that seemed too predictable. Why not reach for the stars— literally. We’ve had several antique constellation prints in our inventory that we’ve been itching to use, and when we printed test samples and laid them out on the chairs, we were in love with the combination. Then came the choice regarding color tone and intensity— we wanted the image to evoke the sky, but to be more sophisticated than baby blue. Adding a hint of green made all the difference. We went through many manipulations of the images to make sure the constellations were distinct, but not stark.
Stitching together multiple prints to create a cohesive whole was a challenge. In the end, we decided to vary the placement of the constellations, so that the chairs complement each other without being identical. Thanks to the skill of our upholsterer, Berkshire-based Jean Paul Casalinas of Jean Paul Upholstery Studio, we were extremely happy with the result. He was able to create piping from the fabric itself so one image flows seamlessly into the next.
The other piece we just completed with Jean Paul is an Eastlake-inspired loveseat. We bought this loveseat from a gentleman whose late mother had purchased it decades earlier at the Rhinebeck Antiques Show in upstate New York.
The frame was in excellent condition, with only a few touch-ups required by our refinisher, Scott Doyle, who is based in Millerton. Once we retrieved the loveseat from Scott, Jean Paul retied and stabilized the springs and replaced all the cushioning.
We had tried a number of images on the frame before deciding on an early 20th century frieze of peacocks and pheasants, which fit the loveseat perfectly. We were still left with the task of finding a complementary fabric to apply to the arms and seat. That was a challenge, until we discovered a wonderful fabric from Rebecca Atwood called Scattered Dot.
We just launched Pryor & Peacock in May, 2024, and we are excited and grateful to be a part of the rich tapestry of Berkshire artists and makers. We strive with all of our pieces to combine elegance with whimsy. We hope you also find it unexpected and new.
